Thanks for the thanks. I'm glad to have helped. As you predicted, this additional information doesn't change my opinion or advice.
Hello Doc
First off , thank you for taking your time to reply in such detail. I greatly appreciate it.
Next, I didn't include some things due to the length limit. I'm not expecting you to change your mind however, want to say this for completion.
I am from the US , Ohio more specifically . The female I was with after the intercourse occurred said she was with 20 other guys . This is when I was at college. She was 19 at the time .....
More on symptoms:
I also have pea sized nodes one behind my right ear and also one hard pea sized node one the anterior chain.... Pea sized nodes under arms and in groin also however I'm 5'6" 172 so I've heard sometimes they can be felt.
Again, Im not trying to change your thoughts but rather give you the entire scope of what occurred . Your final comments are greatly appreciated .
Best regards
Welcome to the forum.
First, the odds a partner like yours had HIV is exceedingly low. Assuming you're in the United States and she wasn't a sex worker or injection drug user or otherwise at special risk, then the likelihood she had HIV probably is under 1 in 100,000. One-off heterosexual encounters like this probably result in zero new HIV infections each year.
Second, your symptoms are not typical for HIV, which would not cause enlarged or inflamed lymph nodes in only one location like the neck, and at 5 years would never be the only symptom. And IBS and other GI problems also are not at all suggestive of HIV.
Third and most important, the standard HIV tests are just about the most accurate diagnostic tests ever developed, for any medical problem. Test results always overrule even the highest risk exposures or the most typical HIV symptoms (neither of which you had). Your results prove you do not have HIV. There is no possibility of an exception.
It really isn't normal to remain so obsessed with the possibility of having HIV in the face of such overwhelming evidence from the test results and after the repeated reassurance you undoubtedly have had about it from your doctors. I have to wonder whether as a result of your upbringing, sexual education, etc you have some unresolved shame or guilt about your distant past sexual experience. Therefore, in response to "what else I should do", my advice is that you discuss your feelings frankly with your primary care physician, with the expectation that s/he may recommend professional counseling. If so, I hope you will follow that advice. I suggest it out of compassion, not criticism.
I hope these commens are helpful. Best wishes-- HHH, MD